According to the lawyer, Eremenko will be allowed to join training sessions of any team only two months ahead of expiration of his suspension term

Roman Eremenko

MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. Russian CSKA Moscow FC’s midfielder Roman Eremenko will challenge his two-year suspension imposed by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Mikhail Prokopets, a sports law professor representing Eremenko’s interests, told TASS on Monday.

Earlier in the day, UEFA said it has upheld Eremenko’s two-year suspension from competitions but lifted a complete ban from football related activities.

"Substantiating our position, we relied on the rather new and unusual practices of the Court pf Arbitration for Sport. But UEFA either was unwilling to consider it or just decided to shed everything onto the Lausanne-based court. We decided from the very beginning that if we are not satisfied with the UEFA decision we would go to CAS. So, we are going to challenge the UEFA decision with CAS," Prokopets said.

When asked when the appeal to CAS will be filed, he answered, "To start with, we must have the full text of the UEFA resolution. It will take some time."

According to the lawyer, Eremenko will be allowed to join training sessions of any team only two months ahead of expiration of his suspension term.

In mid-November, UEFA handed down a two-year suspension on Eremenko beginning from October 6 and until October 5, 2018 over the use of cocaine.

Eremenko is ineligible to take part in any FIFA football tournament or any other event organized by a member of the football federation.

The 29-year-old footballer had his doping sample collected after the UEFA Champions League group stage match between Bayer Leverkusen and CSKA Moscow on September 14, 2016 in Germany.

The analysis of the player’s A sample revealed the presence of cocaine and its metabolites - a stimulant that is classified under the category of prohibited substances in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 2016 Prohibited List under class S6 - being prohibited in-competition.

Eremenko, a Finnish national, has been playing for FC CSKA since 2014. He has played nine matches in the Russian Football Premier League this season, scoring three goals and making two assists.